NOTE: I am putting my weekly sermons on the church website. It will be on for two weeks (usually posted on Friday) and then placed in the Archives area by date. You can download in a matter of seconds.
Let me know what you think. The church Email is: slumc@direcway.com, Phone: 480.895.8766
Sunday, May 8, 2005
Sermon: “Jerusalem: Holy/Unholy”
Scripture: Acts 1: 6-14
Reverend Larry Gerber
This is Mothers Day. A day of showing appreciation and love for those special people in our hearts. I can think of no better message, than that of Jesus Christ, who preached, and lived love and compassion. I want you to take a glance back in history. Let’s look at Jesus’ Great Commission, and then at the Crusaders of the 12 century, and finally at the church of the 21st century.
Crusaders are on the march in an epic film of religion, romance and war. But are we, as 21st-century disciples, showing the world a raised sword or a raised cross?
Jerusalem.
Jews revere it as the city of the great king. Christians honor it as the site of the cross and the empty tomb. Muslims embrace it as a sacred city of Islam — the site of Mohammad’s ascension into heaven on a white stallion.
It’s a holy city.
Also an unholy city.
A blockbuster movie is now in the theaters — full of action, romance, drama and warfare — one that is set in 12th-century Jerusalem. Called Kingdom of Heaven, this Ridley Scott epic is about a young peasant blacksmith who becomes an honored knight, saves a kingdom, and falls in love with a princess.
It’s also about the Crusades.
Given that Jerusalem is sacred to the three major monotheistic religions, it’s not hard to grasp that there has been fierce competition, and even bloody conflict, over this holy hunk of real estate. Such warfare has broken out multiple times, and Kingdom of Heaven takes a look at what might have happened between the Second and Third Crusades, showing us a colorful clash of personalities, cultures, regions and religions.
Orlando Bloom plays the heroic peasant who becomes a knight and saves a kingdom, and at the heart of the film is the pure, severe code of the knight. “The knight was the cowboy of that era,” says director Ridley Scott. “He carried with him degrees of fairness, faith and chivalry — right action. I think right action is what it is really all about.”
Yes, but whose action was right in the age of the Crusades?
Was it the action of the Knights Templar, the warrior monks who wanted Jerusalem for the Christians? Or was it the action of Saladin, the Turk and Muslim paladin who conquered Jerusalem in 1187? Was there anything right about the behavior of these three religious, if not political, entities — Isalm, Judaism, Christianity — during the crusading era of the 11th-13th centuries?
These
questions are coming up again as the film appears in theaters across the country.
According to The New York Times, a Catholic scholar has stamped it fair and
a Muslim scholar has cried foul.
But a number of British scholars have come to the opposite conclusion, stating
that the film distorts history to portray Arabs in a favorable light.
A crusader was so-called because he was someone who took the sign of the cross. It was often emblazoned across his shield, or his garments. In a ceremony, he knelt, and solemnly swore that he would say his vows at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, or die in the attempt. He became known as a “crucesignatus,” one who had taken the sign of the cross. A crusader.
Those who did make it to Jerusalem, made their way to the church, and thrust their sword into the ground, and — staring at its cruciform shape — said their vows. This is also the way many of them died on the battlefield — the last image they saw was the image of the cross.
But the film leaves us with a question: Where should we be standing today, as Christians who trace our history back not only to the Crusaders, but also to the apostles? It is certainly true that our Christian history moves from the cross to the Crusades, but it goes far beyond the Middle Ages as well. We have to ask ourselves if we, as 21st century disciples, are closer to the apostles or the Crusaders. Are we showing the world a raised cross or a raised sword?
The crux of the matter is this: When people look at us, they should see a Christian code at work. Everything we do should be marked by right action, fairness and faith.
Today’s Scripture lesson invites us to go back to Jerusalem, that simultaneously holy and unholy city, to take a look at what the first followers of Jesus were called to do. The time frame is just 40 days after the resurrection, and the apostles are sounding a bit like crusaders in search of a victory when they ask Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
They want God’s kingdom to be victorious. They hunger for Jesus to triumph over his enemies. They are ready for the inaugural party. They’re blue state disciples ready to take control in a red state world. Regime change is in the air. They’ve been to the cross, and didn’t much like it. They’re ready for a crusade.
But Jesus has another idea, and says to them, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (1:8). Then he ascends into heaven, leaving them looking up in shock and disbelief.
Jesus challenges them to be witnesses, not warriors.
He promises that they will receive the power they need to continue his work in the world — to speak his words, to continue his healings, to provide leadership to his church.
Jesus doesn’t ask them to defend territories, or pick up the sword. They’re not called to conquer Jerusalem and protect the holy city from harm.
Instead, their mandate is to be a martyria,that is, someone who lays down the sword and raises up the cross, a “crucesignatus,” as it were. Someone who “witnesses” and does so not with lethal arms, but with loving arms.
Carry my cross into the world, says Jesus.
The urgency of this mission is made clear to the apostles as they stand looking up into the sky. “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?” ask two mysterious men in white robes (1:11). Get your heads out of the clouds, they seem to be saying, because Jesus will certainly come back.
Stop
looking up, they say, and start looking around.
Last fall, a group called “Midlife Men on a Mission” traveled from
Washington, D.C., to rural Honduras, determined to deliver medications to a
mountaintop medical clinic and to help construct a Christian camp for the children
of the region. They started work as early as 6:30 in the morning, and often
labored until 6:00 at night, digging post holes, pouring concrete, carrying
cinder blocks, and lifting steel beams. Then they would return to their hotel
for cleanup and dinner, followed by a time of Bible study and reflection on
the day. The men came out of the week-long experience feeling close to God and
to each other, with a deep sense of satisfaction about the service they had
performed in the world.
Here in our own church, we look around. We act and react. We gave over $25,000 to the relief efforts in the Tsunami aftermath.
A crew from this church takes van loads of our no longer wanted or needed items to UMOM, every Monday morning. They stay and work, sorting and pricing items for the poor and downtrodden.
Another group goes to UMOM on Thursday, and offers those same people the best meal of the week, partly due to our donations of money through the fish bowl each Sunday. You have given nearly $1,000 in soaps, shampoos, and other toiletries to the cause.
Others go to the Wesley Community Center in the burrio of Phoenix, to offer sewing classes, clothing, and food. You have given innumerable amounts of school items, when asked for.
Yet, another group goes to The Gila River Crossing school on the reservation, to help students learn, and hopefully get ready to pass their Aims Test.
And, most recently, the Missions Commission is launching a support for Agua Prieta Methodist Church in Mexico, in conjunction with our conference missional outreach. We will soon be sending a team to visit the area, and reach out in missions with $1,000 worth of supplies. And there is more…….The UMM and UMW reach out with missional help: Hiefer Project, Camp Scholarships, etc..
In the case of the Midlife Men, instead of simply enjoying the company of each other, each man in the group made a commitment to recruit one new man for the next mission trip. One even asked, “Can I bring a Muslim friend on a future trip?”
The answer was “yes,” as long as the friend would be open to times of Christian Bible study and prayer. The Midlife Men were not content to stand around, looking up to the heavens — they wanted to be witnesses to their friends, to their neighbors, to the people of Honduras, to the very ends of the earth. They wanted others to look at them and see a Christian code at work, one marked by right action, fairness and faith.
The challenge for us is to behave more like first-century apostles than like 12th-century Crusaders. If we do, we’ll act as crucesignati, lifting up the cross, not in the shape of a sword, but as a sign in our daily lives.
We’ll live in peace with one another, we’ll pursue justice for our neighbors, we’ll bind up the brokenhearted, and lift up the downtrodden.
In other words, we’ll adopt the Franciscan mantra: “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.”
Let us pray………
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Sources:
Corliss, Richard. “Ridley Scott’s 1,001 Arabian knights.” Time, October 3, 2004, time.com.
Edwardes, Charlotte.“Ridley Scott’s new Crusades film panders to Osama bin Laden,” Telegraph Online, January 1, 2004. telegraph.co.uk.
“Kingdom of controversy? Crusades epic gets Passions aroused.” August 16, 2004, Film Force Web Site. filmforce.ign.com.
Let me know what you think. The church Email is: slumc@direcway.com, Phone: 480.895.8766